The present invention relates to a dispensing carton which contains a roll film used to wrap foodstuffs and can cut the film to dispense it.
More particularly, the present invention concerns a dispensing carton for a roll film which can cut the film by a cutter exactly only by pulling the film from the carton in the horizontal direction with respect to the carton.
Film used to wrap foodstuffs together with a tray on which the foodstuffs are put is wound into a roll and contained in a carton. A lid member of the carton includes a front flange connected continuously thereto and which is provided with a cutter. The film pulled from the carton is cut by the cutter to a desired length.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a conventional dispensing carton for a roll film. A dispensing carton which is most analogous to the carton of FIG. 8 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,307,828, for example.
In FIG. 8, numeral 1 denotes a dispensing carton formed into a rectangular parallelepiped. The carton 1 contains a film 30 wound about a core into a roll. A lid member 4 which covers an opening 3 of the carton 1 is joined to a rear panel 2 of the carton 1. The lid member 4 is formed at an end thereof with a flange 6 which overlaps a front panel 5. A metal cutter 7 is mounted to a tip of the flange 6. A tip of the cutter 7 is provided with a sawtooth edge which is slightly protruded from the tip of the flange 6 and extend in parallel with a base 1a of the carton.
The cutting operation of the film in the conventional dispensing carton is now described in detail. For convenience of the description, the rectangular coordinates X, Y and Z are superposed in the dispensing carton as shown in FIG. 9. The X-axis is a perpendicular axis to the surfaces of the rear panel 2 and the front panel 5 and the direction extending to the front panel 5 from the rear panel 2 is the positive direction of the X-axis while the direction extending to the rear panel 2 from the front panel 2 is the negative direction of the X-axis. The Y-axis is a perpendicular axis to the surfaces of side panels 8 and 9 and the direction extending to the side panel 9 from the side panel 8 is the positive direction of the Y-axis while the direction extending to the side panel 8 from the side panel 9 is the negative direction of the Y-axis. The Z-axis is the perpendicular direction to both of the X-and Y-axes and the direction extending to the opening 3 from the base 1a is the positive direction of the Z-axis while the direction extending to the base 1a from the opening 3 is the negative direction of the Z-axis.
The cutting operation in the conventional dispensing carton is described using the X, Y and Z axes defined above.
The dispensing carton is first held by the left hand and an end of the film 30 is then held by the right hand to pull out it in the positive direction of the X-axis in the X-Y plane. After the end of the film has been pulled out by a desired length as shown in FIG. 9, the corner of the film 30 near the position A shown in FIG. 9 is held by the right hand and is tensioned with a moderate tension T in the X-axis direction by both hands. A portion of the lid member 4 near the portion a shown in FIG. 9 is then depressed in the negative direction of the Z-axis by the left hand and the tension T given to the corner of the film near the portion A is slightly increased while the corner is slightly lifted in the positive direction of the Z-axis by the right hand. Consequently, an end of the film 30 is cut by a portion B of the cutter 7 and film 30 is further cut along the cutter 7 in the negative direction of the Y-axis. The cut film is used to wrap foodstuffs put on a tray. However, the above cutting operation possesses the following drawbacks.
It is desirable that the tray is covered by the film 30 fully opened along the X-Y plane. However, actually, when the tension T is slightly increased while the corner of the film is slightly lifted up in the positive direction of the Z-axis by the right hand at the same time that the portion a or its vicinity of the lid member is depressed in the negative direction of the Z-axis, the depressing operation in the negative direction of the Z-axis and the lifting operation of the positive direction of the Z-axis are often overlarge or the increased amount of the tension T is often overlarge. In such a case, the cut film 30 can not be kept opened fully along the X-Y plane and hence the film 30 held by the right hand is wrinkled or intertwined to be hung down so that an area of the film enough to cover the tray can not be obtained.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a dispensing carton in which a film pulled out therefrom can be cut smoothly and completely without wrinkle and intertwinement only by pulling out the film from the carton in the horizontal (X-axis) direction without lifting the pulled film in the positive direction of the Z-axis extremely.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a dispensing carton in which a film can be cut while fully spread horizontally and a tray is covered by the cut film fully spread without wrinkle and intertwinement.